


He's Hiding Something

by Bri206



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: 7x13, F/M, Family, Secrets, episode 7x13
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-18 07:43:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17576735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bri206/pseuds/Bri206
Summary: What happens when Oliver finds out William is hiding something from him? And then what happens when a serial killer takes over Star City? This story is a prediction of what happens in 7x13.





	He's Hiding Something

**Author's Note:**

> So after reading the synopsis for 7x13, this idea popped up in my head, and I just had to write it! I hope you enjoy!

He’s hiding something, he can feel it. Oliver had walked past William’s room this morning , and when he asked if he wanted to help with breakfast, he slammed his laptop shut. Now he’s sitting across the bar pushing around his eggs.

“Hey” Felicity says walking into the living room. “Something smells amazing” Laying a gently her hand on William, to give him a gentle hug. He gives her a small smile in return. “Did you sleep well? Was the bed ok? I was thinking about getting the extra soft mattress, but I know that you like some firmness.” Shutting her eyes, she silently shakes her head and tucks her lips between her teeth. “I’m just… gonna… forget I said anything.”

“I made you coffee honey”

“Thank you”

When she looks up to give her husband a look of thanks, she immediately stops in her tracks. His eyes are darker, but not like the kind of dark when he is out in the field. This is different.

“You ok, Felicity?”

“What?”

“You’re coffee.” William says scrunching his eyebrows together.

“Right, coffee.”

Looking between his parents several times, he just shakes his head. “I’m going back to my room.”

“Will you didn’t finish your breakfast” Oliver says quickly.

“I’m not hungry.”

Before Oliver can protest, William's already in his room.

Releasing a deep sigh, Oliver closes his eyes and lets his head hang.

“Uh Oh, I know that look. What’s wrong?”

“He’s hiding something”

“Oliver, he’s a teenager. Secrecy is their main language. I mean we were teenagers once, we know how it goes.”

“That’s what I’m worried about. Felicity I was not a good teenager. I mean when I was his age, I had my first of many beers, and I was smoking and partying.”

Felicity can see the spiral consuming him.

“Ok, Oliver, Oliver. Hey, focus.” She grabs his face between her hands. “Listen to me, William is a good kid. Ok? He has a good head on his shoulder, and he is super smart.”

“Yeah, but he just went through several traumatic experiences, one after the other. That could lead to some awful fallouts for him and us.”

“Were you reading that child psychology website again?”

He hesitates. “No”

“Oliver, you know those articles do nothing, but make you worry, and for no reason.”

“No reason? Did you just see the encounter we had with him. He couldn’t get out of the room quick enough.”

“He’s still adjusting.”

“He hates me.”

“No he doesn’t. He does not hate you, ok? It’s like you said he went through some traumatic experiences and it’s just gonna take time for him to adjust to our new norm.”

“You’re right. Time.”

“Time. Speaking of time, aren’t you gonna be late for work?”

“Yeah, I should go” he says, grabbing his coffee and giving her a kiss. “I love you.”

“Love you too.”

* * *

 

 

As he walks into the precinct, the first thing he notices, is the chaos. He’s still trying to adjust to the environment of not only the police force, but also with so many people being involved.

“Got another one” Dinah says coming to walk with him.

“Another murder?”

“Yep. Another young woman, late 20’s, early 30’s” she says giving him the photograph. “Strangled to death.”

“Do we have a connection” he asks when he reaches his desk?

“Still working on it.”

He sighs, when he heavily sits down.

“You ok?”

“Yeah, I’m just worried about William.”

“Oh, yeah, how’s that going?”

“Well he’s not talking to me and he’s hiding something from me, so great.”

“I’ m sorry.”

“I should have expected this. I mean, I can’t blame him for being mad. I did break my promise to him.”

“He’s a kid, he’ll get over it.”

“Or he won’t” he mutters.

“Why don’t you look more into that case, you can even go to the crime scene if you want. That’ll help get your mind off your problems.”

“Yeah, I’ll look into it.”

* * *

 

 

After going over all the women again, for the fifteenth time, Oliver gives up. There are no connections that he can find. He sent the list of women that had been murdered by the mystery serial killer or as the Star City news reporters are calling him “The Star City Slayer”, over to Felicity, but still nothing.”

A knock breaks him from his reverie.

“Hey, find anything?” Dinah asks.

“No. All these women, they all have different jobs, families, social status. Some have kids, some don’t. Some are married, some aren’t. I mean, it’s almost as if he was randomly picking these women out of the city pool.”

“What about age?”

“I mean a few of them were in their early 20’s, one of them was in their late 30’s, and the rest mid 30’s.”

“Alright, so we have a range, 20-30’s.”

“That’s kind of a big range.”

“Yeah, well you said you had nothing, so, I’m reaching for anything at this point. You try.”

“Alright fine, if you want to get technical, all of them are blonde. Happy?”

“Peachy” she says sarcastically. “Now go home.”

“What? I’m not done yet, and Felicity’s still working on this, so this could take a couple hours.”

“Oliver, you’re not here. Mentally anyway. Your mind is drifting off to your son.”

Oliver wants to protest, but he knows she’s right. William is all he has been able to think about the entire time he’s been at work.

“Dinah..”

“Go. Go home and spend time with your family. We both know you deserve it.”

“Are you sure? I mean, what if he attacks again?”

“Oliver, we’ve got this. I promise. Now go, before I have to escort you out myself.

* * *

 

 

Walking through the doors of their apartment, Oliver can’t help but feel relief.

“Hey, you’re home early. Did you find the killer?”

“No, umm, Dinah kind of forced me to come home.”

“Forced you? Why?”

“Apparently I wasn’t focused.”

“Let me guess, William.”

“Yeah. Speaking of which, is he here?”

“Yeah, he’s in his room. Which he hasn’t left in the last 4 hours.”

“Great, then he can help me with dinner.”

“Oliver, wait.”

“What” he asks turning towards her.

“Look, I know you want to get to the bottom of this, but you need to remember he is not some low life criminal. He’s your son.”

“I know that” he says defensively.”

“I know you know that. I guess what I’m trying to say is that you need to be patient with him and let him tell you rather than force it out of him.”

“Alright, alright.” he lifts her hand and kisses it delicately.

Walking to his son’s bedroom, he takes a deep breath and softly knocks on the door.

“Hey Will.”

Looking up from his laptop, he slowly narrows his eyes.

“Hi, dad. What are you doing here? It’s just that Felicity said that you tend to work late.”

“I usually do, but I finished early today. I figured that we could make dinner together.”

“Oh”

“I did promise Felicity lasagna, and we do make the best lasagna. What do you say?”

He looks at his laptop one final time, and then closes it.

“Ok.”

* * *

 

“The table is set.”

“Perfect, and the lasagna is out of the oven. How are the breadsticks, Will?”

“Done.”

“Perfect, because I am starving.”

After bringing over the food, they all settle down and begin to eat. The conversation is surprisingly easy, as Felicity talks about her new security system, and Oliver’s new job with the police.

“So Will, what was your favorite thing about Cambridge?”

William hesitates and looks down at his food. Oliver and Felicity exchange looks, worried that he won’t answer. But he proves them wrong seconds later.

“Umm, I think it had to be the science fair there.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, everyone really got into it. I also played some baseball while I was over there.”

“That’s awesome, Will.”

This is the moment, Oliver thought, this was the moment he would figure out what his son was hiding. But before he could even get the first word out, Felicity’s computers go wild.

Rushing over to them, Felicity immediately starts typing furiously. And then with a final punch to a key, her movements go still.

“Umm, Oliver. Come here, please.” she says in a very tense voice.

Quickly getting up he, comes to land a hand on her shoulder in support.

“What’s wrong?”

Seeing that William has a clear view to the screens, she slightly pushes Oliver into his line of sight.

“What?”

“Look” she says pointing to the disturbing picture.

It is Dinah, Renee, and Emiko tied to chairs, with blood running down different parts of their bodies.

“Where is this?”

Quickly finding the address, Felicity gives it to him.

“565 W. Prichard”

Pulling up another camera angle, Felicity's breath hitches.

“Wait a second, that guy looks familiar.”

“Stanley.” Oliver says in utter disgust and surprise.

“Yeah, he was the one that was in prison with you.”

“‘Was’ being the key word. How did he even get out?”

“I don’t know, but Oliver, they don’t look so good.

Already pulling back his shoulders, and turning towards the bedroom, Oliver starts to walk with determination, when all of a sudden he hears his son’s voice.

“Dad?”

Turning to his boy, Oliver’s stance softens a bit.

“Buddy I’m so sorry, but-”

“You have to go. I get it. Go.”

“Will, I promise I’ll-”

“Just go. They need you.”

Without another thought, Oliver was gone.

* * *

 

It had been 15 minutes since Oliver had left, when Felicity found his dot stopping right in front of the abandoned warehouse.

Felicity is doing everything she can think of, on her computer, when she catches a glimpse of William.

He is sitting all alone at the table, looking very sad and disappointed. That immediately shakes her of her reverie.

“Hey Will, can you come here for a second?”

At the sound of his name, he gets up and begrudgingly makes his way over to her.

“Felicity, if this about dad-”

“It’s not. I mean it is, but not… I could really use your help.”

“With what? You look like you have everything covered.”

“Well that is where you’re wrong, because I have a very important job for you. Pull up a seat.”

He does as she asks, and when he sits beside her, she shows him what to do.

“Do you see these orange dots?”

“Yeah”

‘Those are heat signatures, that means those are the amount of people in the building.”

“It shows four.”

“Exactly. Three of those are our friends and the other is the bad guy.”

“So what do you want me to do?”

“I want you to keep an eye out for more orange dots. Can you do that?”

“Yep” he says with a determination, she hasn’t seen in him for a while.

“Alright Overwatch, talk to me.”

“Ok, they are in the North East sector.”

“Any surprises I should know about?”

“No, it’s just the team and Stanley, so far.”

With a simple nod, Oliver wasted no time getting to the North East sector.

Kicking the door open, he is welcomed to his friends, looking utterly pissed off and tied up.

Turning to the sound of the door opening, Stanley lets a creepy smile appear on his face.

“Oliver. It’s so nice to see you again” he says in his childlike innocence voice.

“Let them go Stanley.”

“Oh, I can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“Because they’re my victims” he says it as if that statement would solve everything.

Knowing that he will just make everything worse by yelling, Oliver decides to take the softer approach.

“Stanley, this has nothing to do with them. Ok? This is about you and me. Now, let them go.”

“They weren’t supposed to be here.”

Getting irritated every second that passes by, Oliver tightens his grip on his bow.

“Stanley, let, them, go.”

“I tried to get to her. But every time I tried to go through the window, there was loud beeping and sirens screaming.”

Losing his patience, Oliver made small steps towards the man, who seemed to be in his own little world.

“And then I saw her, yesterday. She was beautiful, with her hair blowing in the wind, shining as bright as the sun. And her dress kissing her thighs with every step. She was a sight to behold.”

All while Stanley is giving his disturbing speech, William accidentally pushes a button, and a whole bunch of pictures pop up. All of them are of the women that were killed.

* * *

 

“You saw who” Oliver asks curtly in his deep voice.

“I was going to finally have her, because she was the key. But then, you showed up and I couldn’t blow my cover, so I went for second best.”

* * *

 

William leans closer to the pictures and notices a similarity between the 6 women. They all looked like her.

“Felicity” fear coating his voice.

She is intently watching Oliver’s every move.

“Felicity” he tries again.

“What?”

“All these women, they all look like you.”

At the revelation, she looks back to the screen where Oliver is watching Stanley, waiting to make a move.

“Oh my god” she whispers. “Oliver he was going to kill me.”

As soon as the word reached his ears, he goes stock still. Stanley was talking about Felicity. His Felicity. He was going to kill her.

“You were going to kill my wife” he whispers in anger.

“Yes. She was the only way. Felicity was the key to you.”

“Don’t you dare speak her name.”

“You hurt me Oliver, and I just wanted to hurt you, and the only way to do that was to hurt someone close to your heart. Because I know from experience that when someone hurts your heart, there’s no going back.”

Not wanting to hear another word come out of his mouth, Oliver lunges at him and fights. Fights for his wife, and the anger that courses through his veins. As he continuously punches the defenseless man, her voice finally comes through.

“Oliver! Stop! Stop!”

At the final ‘Stop’, he did. He lets his fist loosen just a little bit, and he takes in the scene before him. Stanley’s face is bloodied and bruises are becoming prevalent. As much as he wants to finish the job, he thinks about his son and Felicity, and how much he wants to be a good man for them. And if he kills Stanley, he will not be that man for them, so he backs up slightly and glares at him.

“If you EVER even so much as think about my wife, you will forever be in the pain of hell.”

“Without her, you are nothing”

And with one final punch, Stanley is silent.

* * *

 

Felicity is lost. Lost in thought. He was there, at Big Belly Burger yesterday. He was going to kidnap her and kill her. Murder her, just so he could get back at Oliver. That was a lot to process.

Not knowing how long her mind had been lost, she feels her arm being lifted and her feet shuffling across the floor. A light pressure is being applied to her shoulder, causing her to sit on the soft cushions of the sofa. And then the presence was gone.

But then it returned minutes later.

“Felicity”

That was all it took, her name.

“William. Oh, I’m sorry, did I zone out?”

“Yeah. But it’s ok, I brought you the hot chocolate you like. The one with extra cinnamon and extra whip cream.”

Giving him a sincere smile, she gladly takes the beverage and sips at it. Sitting across from her, William asks if she’s ok.

“Yeah, sorry it’s just a lot to take in.”

“Knowing that yesterday could have gone really bad.”

“Yeah” she whispers.

“Well it didn’t and I think that’s all that matters.”

Nodding her head, she silently agrees.

Silence fills the air as they sit quietly processing the night.

And then out of nowhere, he spoke.

“Why did you forgive him so easily?”

Turning towards her step-son, she looks to question what he means.

“Dad. Why did you just pretend like the last 7 months didn’t exist?”

“Will I-”

“You act like you didn’t give up everything for him. That you didn’t cry yourself to sleep every night. That he didn’t break you. Felicity you were a barista. And you hated it.”

“William. Look, you’re right, I did forgive him quickly, but it’s not what you think. Ok?”

“I don’t understand. He hurt us. He left us.”

“Yes. He did. And we will always remember that. The way it made us feel , and our emotions. But I did forgive him, and this is why.” Taking a deep breath, she’s not sure if she should tell him what she’s about to tell him, because it could be crossing a line, but she needs him to understand why she willingly forgave Oliver.

“This isn’t the first time he’s done this.”

“Gone to prison?”

She huffs “No, lied to me. Do you remember when you first met Oliver? As your mother’s friend?”

He nods.

“That was right after he found out that he was your father. And he wanted so desperately to be in your life. So much so that he made a deal with your mother. The deal was that he could see you as long as he didn’t tell anyone about you.”

“Including you?”

“Including me. Now you're probably wondering why this means anything and that’s because your dad and I were engaged.”

“Engaged?”

“Yep. We were going to get married. But then you were kidnapped and the truth came out. Long story short, when I found out about you I was so angry, and it wasn’t because of you, because I love you as my own. But it was because he lied to me. I know some women would let it go and move on, but I couldn’t. So I broke off our engagement and relationship. That next year was torture. Oliver and I still worked together, but it was awful being around him and not being with him. In fact it was even worse when he started dating someone else. It was as if everything broke all over again.”

“And what happened after that? Clearly you two ended up together.”

“We did obviously, but it wasn’t without a fight. Look I guess the reason I forgave him so quickly, was because I know what it’s like to be without him and I never want to experience that again. So I would rather work on things with him than not have him at all. Will I know you’re mad at him, as you should be, but wouldn't you rather work things out now, then regret not having a relationship, ten, twenty years down the road?”

He looks down at his lap and back up at her eyes. She was baring her love, worry and belief in him.

Putting her cup on the coffee table, she take both of his hands.

“I am not saying you have to forgive him now, or even three weeks from now. But all I’m saying is that you deserve to have a relationship, a good one, with your dad.”

Before he can say anything, her alarm goes off. All it says is ‘Oliver Queen’.

A few seconds later, the door opens, and Oliver walks in, with his leathers on. His eyes immediatly land on the scene before him and he sends questioning looks to his love. But she simply deflects them with a shake of her head. Getting up slowly, Felicity meets him half way and they are both embracing like they’re lives depend on it.

“You’re here.”

“I’m here” she says stroking his hair comfortingly.

He pulls back slightly and frames her face between his hands, “are you ok?”

“I’m fine. He didn’t touch me.”

That seemed to get through to him, because he let’s out a deep sigh and finally relaxes. Kissing her softly for a couple minutes, he finally breaks it.

Looking up he sees William, looking down at his lap.

“Will, I am so sorry, I had to leave. I know I promised dinner and a quite night-”

“Dad it’s ok. Really. Felicity let me help.”

“She did? You did?”

“Yeah, he was actually the one who figured out that Stanley was targeting me.”

Oliver stands in awe of his family, and can’t believe they’re his.

“Well good job, I am so proud of you.”

“Thanks dad” he says blushing.

Basking in the moment, Oliver almost forgets all of their problems, and they hit him full force.

“As amazing as you did tonight, we need to talk. Will, I know that I broke your trust and I lied to you and I am so deeply sorry for that. I don’t expect you to forgive me, but that being said, I do want you to be honest with me. Starting with what your hiding from us.”

The question makes William cower. The reaction causes both Oliver and Felicity to look worried at eachother.

“Will, you can tell us anything” Felicity coaxes. “ We won’t be mad at you, I mean we were both teenagers once, and we did some not so appropriate things…”

He immediately looks up “I didn’t drink or smoke or party, if that’s what your thinking.”

At the statement, Oliver literally sighs and physically relaxes, causing Felicity to look over and give him a funny look.

“Oh thank god” he says under his breath.

“Ok, well if it’s not that, then what’s going on?”

Again William, looks down.

“Umm, I don’t know how to tell you guys, because I don’t know how you’ll react. I don’t if you’ll be mad at me-”

“William, we won’t be mad, I promise” Oliver says laying a supportive hand on his son’s shoulder.

Still avoiding eye contact, William lets the words fall from his lips.

“I’m Gay”

Silence fills the room, and that’s when the tears begin to stream down his face. He took from the lack of movement and sound that they were mad.

But their faces said anything but that. Oliver engulfed William into a hug and Felicity soon joined. When they released each other, William finally looks up.

“You’re not mad?”

“Mad? Why we be mad?” Felicity asks.

“Because Danny Walker’s parents were super mad when he told them he was gay. They said he was an abomination and that he was a disgrace.”

He feels two hands cup his face.

“You are NOT an abomination. You are a gift. Our gift.” Felicity said with all the love she could muster for her son.

“We love you Will, and we are so proud of you.”

“And we will always, always support you, no matter what. Ok?”

Tears openly running down his cheek, he simply nods, and feels them both pull him into a hug. And they all cry. Tears of joy, love and most importantly tears of happiness, because they all knew, they were all finally home.


End file.
